[steven]

I wish I could answer more indepth about where you will be living... as far as here goes, fishing is almost part of the culture it seems. We have a big river and people like to fish in it around this time of year (all through the summer). If you have a river nearby, that might be the safest way to go. The beaches here (Toyama Bay/Sea of Japan area) are fine... people catch fish all the time at the beaches here and you can eat them raw (like squid and stuff). It might be different over there though... I don't know about fishing in the winter though. You could probably catch stuff but it might just be too cold.

If I were you, I'd befriend some people with similar interests as you as they will know what the deal is with the fishing over there. I wouldn't bring a fishing pole or anything like that if that's what you're thinking about (unless you can really get it compact). I'd just wait and get one here or have a friend lend you one during your stay. I've seen rods w/ reels go for as cheap as 30 00 yen and just reels alone going for about a 1000 00 yen used.

I know you're going to study abroad and that has to do with school and stuff, but you can get real studying done by doing stuff like fishing with the locals and all that. I hope you make a lot of good friends doing that. That's one of those things they can never teach in a school.

Sounds really cool... I'm thinking of getting into fishing this summer myself.

As an aside (not that everything I write isn't an aside), you might be interested in checking out the major fish market in Tokyo. If you're interested you can look up the details yourself, but do be aware that there is a strict ediquette banning things like flash photos etc. You get to see those giant tunas and stuff that sell for like 10 grand and stuff like that. If you're willing to make the trip and wake up before the crack of dawn it might be a good experience while you're in Japan. It's one of those places that I think foreigners have more interest in than Japanese people, so (besides the workers) you'll probably see more foreigners than Japanese people there.